Good Question
by Coldman9
Summary: A story of Orihime's first kiss. Or was it?


I don't own Bleach, Kubo Tite does.

Just something that's been going round in my head for a while now.

**Good question**

How did the conversation start? Good question.

Who brought up the topic? Another good question.

But regardless of how it started or how it came to be, the result was all the girls, and the eavesdropping boys a little ways off, staring intently and waiting for Orihime's answer.

"M-my first kiss?" Orihime asked hesitantly, "It . . . was with . . ." her cheeks were tinted a bright red as she brought out the truth, "My first kiss was with Kurosaki-kun."

A stunned silence hung in the air for a brief second. Suddenly all the girls turned to Ichigo who was sitting with the boys not far away, Orihime was surprised their heads didn't fly off their necks then get grabbed up by the little green bearded men. But she looked past the girls to guys, whose expressions nearly made her laugh.

Kiego was staring at Ichigo, his eyes nearly coming out of his head and his mouth wide open. Mizuru was also staring at Ichigo in surprise, although he wore a slight smile. Chad was as silent as ever, although his eyes stayed glued to his friend. Uryuu was the only one among the group that kept eating.

"Impressive Kurosaki." He mumbled to the boy, taking another bite of his food.

Ichigo, however, was the most surprised of the group. So surprised he had dropped his food and was so still he could have passed for a colored statue. After a few second he slowly turned around and looked straight at Orihime, the most surprised expression on his face.

"W-what?" he asked

* * *

*Sob*

"Hmm?" 12-year-old Ichigo looked down the hallway of his home.

He'd gotten home from school as usual and after fishing a snack from the fridge, decided to head to his room for some relaxation time, although he didn't expect to hear the sound of someone crying. And when he decided to investigate the sound, was surprised to see a girl his age with short auburn hair, almost the same color as his, crying on a bed in one of their spare bedrooms. She was sitting with her back against the wall, her knees to her chest and her arms were over them, the girl sobbing into them. He just watched her for a few minutes until his brain kicked in with the manners his father had decided to 'beat' into him.

"Hi." Ichigo said entering the room. The girl on the bed looked up, tears still running down her face, and Ichigo immediately recognized her, "You're the girl that came in with her brother yesterday." He said surprised.

The girl nodded, more tears running down her face.

"What are you still doing here?" Ichigo asked," You and your brother should be at another hospital, we don't have the equipment to treat him here."

The girl started sobbing again, even harder, and buried her head back in her knees. Ichigo backed up a step, wondering what he'd done wrong.

"He's dead." The girl answered his unasked question.

"Oh." Ichigo was at a loss for words and stepped forward to put his hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought it u-"

The young boy was at a loss for words at the girl grabbed him, wrapping her arms around him, just a split second after he put his hand on her shoulder. His mouth began to gape open as she started sobbing into his shoulder. He was silent as he tried to figure out what to do but couldn't think of anything. In the end he decided to sit on the bed with her and rub her back as best he could.

He kept letting the girl sob into his shirt for a while until she lessened up a bit. Her crying seemed less severe and she seemed, at least, slightly calmed down. As he moved he felt something in his pocket and remembered the chocolate bar he'd grabbed from the fridge earlier too. With his free hand he reached in his pocket and pulled it out, luckily it was still cold and not melted. He unwrapped it carefully then held it under the girl to where she could see it. Her crying lessened even more and she looked up at him, a small smile on his face.

"It'll help a little." Ichigo said breaking off a small rectangle of chocolate and putting it in his mouth then held it out to the girl.

The girl had a confused look on her face as she looked in at Ichigo, not knowing what she should do. But before she could say anything he had broken off a piece and slipped it in her mouth. She turned slightly red at the action and covered her mouth quickly, but was surprised at the effects. Tears were still running down her face, but very slowly, and she felt . . . better, much better in fact.

"See?" Ichigo said as she finished her chocolate, holding out another for her.

The girl nodded and smiled a small smile. Ichigo finally noticed just how wet the shoulder of his shirt was and got off to the bed to go change, leaving the candy bar behind.

"Thank you." He heard quietly as he headed down the hall.

"My son." Ichigo heard and looked ahead of him to where his dad was standing with a look of surprise, "I thought I raised you better than to take advantage of a mourning girl. And you're pretty young to be doing that sort of thing."

"Don't think of me like that!" Ichigo yelled running forward and delivering a kick to his father's gut.

"I was just joking." Isshin grunted as he fell to his knees, "But it's good to see you've got enough force to bring your old man to his knees."

"What's she still doing her if her brother's dead?"

"That." Isshin stood up with a solemn look, "The authorities are having a tough time tracking down relatives so I said she could stay with us till they find some. It shouldn't take too long."

"What's her name?" Ichigo looked back to the doorway of her room.

"Inoue Orihime." Isshin answered with a small smile then let out a gasp that caused Ichigo to look back at him, "Could it be? Is my son . . . in love?"

Orihime looked around curiously as she heard some sort of muffled scream. It sounded very pained, like it was being tortured.

* * *

Five days later the authorities still hadn't found any of Orihime's relatives. But for the moment it didn't really matter, she had been made right at home in the Kurosaki household. Once she stopped constantly crying she found Yuzu was very nice and supportive, playing the role of homemaker for the house. Karin, her twin, was very different but was quick to help if Orihime needed anything. And after getting used to Ichigo and Isshin's constant antics she found herself smiling a little around the family.

And so she joined the happy family as they settled down one night to watch a movie together.

"What are we watching? What are we watching?" Yuzu asked excitedly as she sat down on the couch.

Isshin sat in the middle of couch, right in front of the TV on the other side of the coffee table. Yuzu sat to his left and Karin to his right, although she held a bored look and tried to moved to the very edge. Ichigo sat in a chair by Yuzu, at one end of the coffee table, leaving Orihime to take the other chair at the other end of the coffee table.

"I'm glad you asked Yuzu." Isshin grabbed the remote for the TV and turned it on, then held up a DVD case, "Tonight, Kurosaki Theaters is proud to present, The Ring."

"What the heck is wrong with you!?" Ichigo yelled jumping over the table and kicking his dad, "You can't show that to Yuzu and Karin, it'll give them nightmares!"

"Don't be so mean Oni-chan." Yuzu pouted as Ichigo took his seat and Isshin recovered, "I'm not some scared little girl, I can watch it."

"You worry too much." Karin said to her big brother.

"That's my girls, not scared to watch a good movie with your dear old dad." Isshin pushed a button on the remote and all the lights in the house turned off, thunder sounded in the distance outside, "Besides, you can't waste a night like this with anything besides a scary movie." He pressed another button and the movie began playing.

As the movie played through Yuzu was quick to grab hold of her father's arm and not let go. Karin didn't take her eyes off the screen at all and kept her arms crossed, although she moved considerably closer to Isshin as well. Small screams could be heard from Orihime throughout the showing and when Ichigo was able to pry his eyes away from the screen he often saw her with her knees in her chest, just barely looking over them.

The storm had gotten worse quickly as the movie played too. Rain was beating down hard outside while lightning flashed brightly, temporarily illuminating the house for seconds at a time, and thunder was so loud that sometimes Ichigo swore he could feel it shaking the house. Ichigo was far from scared when the movie started but the combination of the darkness, the storm, and the movie itself was just right to have him in a slight, cold sweat.

There was a bright flash of lightning and then the power went off.

"!!!!!!" a mix of screams filled the Kurosaki house.

There was the sound of something clicking and then all the lights in the house were turned on, revealing everyone in their new positions.

Yuzu and Karin were wrapped tightly around their father, their eyes closed and buried deeply in his sides. Ichigo had been brave enough to remain in his seat, but no Orihime, who had somehow managed to jump over the coffee table and was crushing Ichigo's ribs as she grabbed hold of him for dear life.

"Awe, isn't that cute." Isshin said drawing Yuzu and Karin's attention to Ichigo and Orihime.

"Oni-chan!" Yuzu cried out unwrapping herself from her father and looking at the two like Orihime had just stolen her brother.

"Eh?" Orihime opened her eyes and noticed that the lights were on and everyone was looking at her, she then promptly released Ichigo and scooted away to the edge of the chair, "I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking and I didn't want the girl to get me so I thought that if I grabbed Kurosaki-kun she wouldn't come for me cause-" and the rest of her explanation was too fast to understand.

Meanwhile Ichigo had managed to suck air back into his lungs, his senses returning as oxygen managed to circulate through his system. He did a self check in his brain. Vital organs, check, undamaged, check, bruised, diffidently. Bones, check, broken, no, cracked, only his ribs. He looked over at the blushing Orihime as she kept trying to explain what happened.

And the lights went out again.

"!!!!!" screams filled the Kurosaki house again followed by a very audible '_whumpff_!'

When the lights came back on Yuzu and Karin were attached to their father's side again. After a few second they opened their eyes and looked around, not finding Ichigo or Orihime anywhere. Then they finally noticed the chair the two had been on was flipped over on its back. When they all crowded over to see if the two were alright Isshin broke out into a big smile.

Apparently when the lights went out a second time she had grabbed onto Ichigo again, only with so much force it ended up tipping the chair over, taking them with it. And there was little Ichigo, with little Orihime on top of him, with two pairs of lips joined as one. As realization set in Orihime was quick to pull away.

"I . . . I . . . I . . ." she couldn't find the right words to say anything, her mind drawing a blank. Her face kept growing red as she realized the other Kurosaki family members had seen then, and with a small squeal she stood up and ran into the bathroom to hide.

The only one of the trio not wearing a surprised look was Karin, although she was more amused than surprised. Yuzu and Isshin, however, couldn't take their eyes off the bright red, wide eyed, boy. A grin started to creep on Isshin's face until he was smiling from ear to ear.

"Ichigo!" he cried happily, "I'm so happy. You two will make beautiful grandkids, I couldn't be happier for you."

Isshin's happy exclamation was met with a hard kick to the gut before the boy stomped off to his room.

* * *

A day later the authorities had worked out what to do with Orihime and took her away from the Kurosaki house. Although the two embarrassed kids spent the majority of that time avoiding each other, so neither had the chance to say goodbye.

* * *

"Eh, you consider that your first kiss?" Ichigo asked Orihime as they walked. Despite the chaos that had ensued from Orihime's conversation they had managed to escape at the end of the day and were walking home together by the river.

"Well yeah." Orihime said hesitantly, "Why? Don't you?"

"Well . . . uh . . ." Ichigo scratched the back of his neck searching his head for his answer, "It's just that, first kisses should be memorable and special. Ours was, well it was an accident."

"Oh." Ichigo couldn't ignore the sound of disappointment in her voice or the way she looked out at the river sadly.

"Inoue-"he started, mentally cursing himself for making her sad.

"It's okay Kurosaki-kun." She turned to him and smiled, "You're right, a first kiss should be special. But, if ours doesn't count then I'm pretty sad." Ichigo gave her a confused look, "It was really nice having you be my first kiss while I thought it counted."

Ichigo turned slightly red as he watched the long haired girl look down at the river, a happy yet sad smile gracing her face. He scratched the back of head with a small growl then looked around.

_Aw hell you idiot, just do it!_ Ichigo yelled at himself feeling bad for ruining what she probably considered a good memory.

"Orihime." The girl looked over at the boy she had been walking with only to be surprised as he held her close and pulled her into a kiss.

Surprise was the first thing that registered, naturally, but it quickly faded as she took in everything her senses could of the moment. His scent, the feeling of his lips on hers, his hands firmly but gently holding her close, the sound of the river nearby, the view of a beautiful orange sky, and finally, the taste of lingering chocolate. Before she knew what she was doing she had dropped her bag and wrapped her arms around his neck, keeping him close. Seconds and infinity seemed to pass before they backed away from each other, both remembering the feeling and both a little unwilling to let go.

"There, now I am your first kiss." Ichigo said smiling; his face redder than before but it was a genuine smile.

**End**


End file.
